


malfunction

by dummysapphic



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Adora (She-Ra) is a Dork, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempt at Humor, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra is Bad at Feelings (She-Ra), Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Adora (She-Ra), Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, Magic, Past Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Portals, Self-Doubt, Time Travel, catra is YEARNING
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26923813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dummysapphic/pseuds/dummysapphic
Summary: Catra sighs. “Every once in a while, the magic on Etheria will start to... malfunction. It affects all of the princesses with runestones, especially Shera. It makes them... tired. It hasn’t happened in years, though.”----OR: On the 20th anniversary of Horde Primes defeat, Etheria's magic malfunctions and opens up a portal to a few months before Horde Prime showed up.----OR: Catra is jealous of herself.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 248





	1. so very tired

**Author's Note:**

> man i LOVE the idea of time travel, but only on paper. This fic will have angst, fluff, some attempts at humour, and a whole lot of jealousy! I've had this idea for a few months now so I really hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> Remember, if you have any constructive criticism, comment it! But please only CONSTRUCTIVE criticism I'm sensitive and I will cry. 
> 
> ANYWAYS, enjoy the fic!

Today is the anniversary of the defeat of Horde Prime on Etheria. It’s been exactly 20 years and there’s going to be a huge festival to commemorate this victory. 

A LOT has changed for Etheria and its residents, especially for the members of the Rebellion. 

Catra lifts her head from where it was nestled into her wife's shoulder only moments ago. Currently, the morning light coming in through the window was shining through their thin curtains and onto their bed. It made Adora look like she was glowing, and it looked beautiful from Catras angle. Adora had spent the entirety of yesterday preparing for the festival today, moving tables and other party supplies to the gardens, and had immediately fallen asleep after getting home.

Home. That’s a nice word.

While Catra was basking in her wife's beauty, she heard a loud, sporadic knock from outside. Telling from the eager knock, she knew it was Finn.

That was one of the changes that had happened during those 20 years. Catra and Adora now had an amazing kid named Finn, and they couldn’t love them more.

Catra got out of bed, changed into a white t-shirt and black leggings, and yelled “Come in, kitten. The door’s open!” Finn opens the bedroom door and walks in with a smile on their face.

While Catra always loves seeing Finn, she is taken aback by their lack of excitement for today.

They had spent WEEKS talking nonstop about how excited they were to go to the Peace Day Festival. They planned everything they would do to the dot, just like their mom would. They were so much like Adora in how they acted. Now, they look happy, but it appears as though they haven't slept in days. 

“What’s wrong, Finn?”

Finn sighs and sits on a small couch in the room. “I just woke up today and I’m already SOO tired! It’s so weird. I promise I didn’t stay up all night!” they backtracked, holding their hands out in front of them, palms out.

Catra chuckles at that. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I believe you. Do you want to stay home today instead?” Finn jumps up, albeit slower than they usually would. Catra notices, but doesn't say anything. “No, no! I’m fine! I’ll go eat some breakfast and be ready to go.” 

As they begin to exit the room to get some food, they hear their other mom groan and sit up, still wearing her pyjamas. They don't say anything about it, but Finn definitely notices that she looks way more tired than she usually does in the mornings. 

“Hey, kitten. What’s happening?” Adora turns to Catra, who also notices Adora's unusually dishevelled state. “Hey, Mom. You okay?” Finn hesitantly adds that last part. Adora doesn't seem to notice the two Magicats worriedly staring at her, and seems confused by the question. “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She begins to stand up, but is hit by a dizzy spell quickly and falls forward. Catra, who seems to have been expecting this, catches her wife in her arms and sits her down on the edge of the bed. “That’s why you wouldn’t be” Catra murmurs. Adora fell backwards onto the bed with a sigh and laid there, staring at the ceiling. It would be creepy if it wasn’t so concerning. 

Finn goes over to their mom's side, “What’s wrong? Why does she look sick?” Catra sighs, but not in annoyance. “Every once in a while, the magic on Etheria will start to... malfunction. It affects all of the princesses with runestones, especially Shera. It makes them… tired. It hasn’t happened in years, though.” Catra makes a mental note to check up on Glimmer later. 

The first few years after defeating Horde Prime were primarily spent repairing the Fright Zone, helping villagers affected by the Horde, and making sure the increased amount of magic in Etheria wasn’t affecting anyone. They did notice that occasionally, all of the princesses with runestones would complain of tiredness at the exact same time. It would disappear at the same time, too. Everyone thought it was a big prank at first. Well, everyone except Catra, Bow, and Seahawk, who saw their princess girlfriends become unusually tired. It wasn’t until all the same princesses complained a third time that year that Bow decided to get to the bottom of it. After some research and experimenting on Etherian magic with Entrapta, they concluded that the tiredness was because the levels of magic in Etheria would occasionally lower to accommodate the new life on the planet after the Heart of Etheria. The princesses with runestones, who all rely on their magic to live, feel fatigued when there isn’t enough magic in their bodies to make it work. Entrapta assured them that these surges in magic levels would eventually stop, and they did. 

Until today, that is.

Finn thought back to when they had woken up for the Peace Day Festival. They had never experienced fatigue like that. They also thought back to what their mom just said about magic surges and fatigue. ‘I’m Shera's kid,’ Finn thought, ‘maybe I’m being affected by the magic surge too.’ Before they could think about it long enough, Adora very slowly sat up again with an exhausted look on her face “It’s happening again, isn’t it?” Catra smiles apologetically and grabs her wife's hand “Yeah. It hasn’t happened in so long, though. Will you be okay for the festival?” Adora nods, but it’s obvious she is doubting herself.

Catra thinks back to Finn's complaint earlier and begins to head down the same train of thought as her child a few moments earlier. She is about to say something when Adora begins to stand up, “ I should go check on Glimmer. If I’m being affected, then so is she.” She is struggling to stand still while she says this. Catra puts a hand on her shoulder. “Glimmer will be fine. She has Bow with her. Besides, you’re the one who is always the most sick out of all of the other princesses, so if anything Glimmer should come check on you.” Adora thinks about it and stops attempting to walk to her closet. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, she can hardly stand. 

The three turn their heads when they hear a knock on the door. This knock is more resigned, exactly three knocks evenly spaced out. Glimmer. “Speak of the devil” Catra whispers. Finn snickers.

“Come in!” Adora yells to her friend. Glimmer walks in and, upon seeing the state of Adora, sighs and deflates. “I knew it was a magic surge. Bow didn’t believe me! Can you believe it! I cannot WAIT to rub it in his face..” Catra sighs dramatically "You're definitely doing better than Adora right now, seeing as how you walked all the way over here to complain about your husband." Glimmer chooses to ignore Catra's comment, right after glaring at her. Catra smirks. “How are you, Adora? Is it bad this time?” Glimmers slowly walks over to Adora and kneels down beside Catra to look at Adora more clearly. The eye bags are a lot more visible at that angle. Adora nods miserably. “It’s never been this bad before. Glimmer, I know this festival is really important, but I don’t know if I can make it.” Adora drops her head, worried that she's disappointing her friends.

One thing that Adora worked on, and is still working on, after the war ended was not always thinking that everything is her fault. She’s gotten way better at it, with the help of Perfuma and Catra encouraging her. Even with her great progress, everyone slips into old habits occasionally. 

Catra grabs her chin with her thumb and index finger, forcing Adora to look at her, “Adora, this isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have possibly known that this would happen today.” Adora nods, having heard sentences similar to this for the past 20 years. She would never get over how much she loved hearing her wifes supportive words. “I know… but-” 

Before she can finish her sentence, Adam, Adora's identical twin brother, runs into the room panting. He has medium length dark blonde hair and piercing blue-grey eyes. Exactly like Adora's. He is wearing a white shirt under a dark red jacket, along with dark grey pants and black boots. It is a strikingly similar outfit to the one that Adora wore during the war. He announces, while still trying to catch his breath “Guys...meeting in the... war room... A HUGE magic surge coming.” 

Adam was also a new addition to Etheria after the war. The Best Friend Squad found Eternia, Adora's home planet, five years after the war had ended while bringing magic to the rest of the universe. Adora got to meet her family in a beautiful reunion. She has a brother, Adam, and two parents, Randor and Marlena. She loves them all so much, but Adora's family is also on Etheria, so she decided to stay. Adam visits a lot through a portal connecting the two planets. Adora and Adam are practically inseparable now, and everyone likes to comment on how they're basically the same person at this point.

The three of them all look at each other in shock and run out to go see what’s happening, Adora wrapping her arm around Catras shoulder to stabilize herself. Before they leave, Adora turns and says “Finn! Stay here, okay? We’ll be right back” and continues out the door through the castle.

Finn almost calls out for them to wait, but decides against it. They walk around the castle for a bit until they stumble across the children of the princesses of the Rebellion sitting in a room, all looking a bit tired. It isn’t until that moment that Finn realizes just how tired they actually are. They feel like they’re going to pass out any second. 

As Finn walks into the room, all the kids in the room turn to look at them. “Finn! Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!” Flora, the daughter of Scorpia and Perfuma runs up and hugs Finn. “Hey! Do you know what’s happening? We were told to wait here, and we all feel tired. It’s such a weird coincidence, right?” Angello, the son of Bow and Glimmer says from the floor. “Yeah, Finn! Did your moms tell you anything?” Merina, the daughter of Sea Hawk and Mermista asks from beside Angello. 

Finn sits down opposite of his friends and explains the situation, “My mom said something about the magic in Etheria being all weird, and that this has happened before. She said that the magic being all weird makes all of the princesses with runestones all tired. I guess that includes us since we’re their kids.” The group continues to discuss magic.

\----  
“So there’s another magic surge. What’s the problem? Why not just wait for it to pass like we’ve done every other time?” Mermista asks from her seat. Her, along with all the runestone princesses, look like they have been awake for the past 4 days straight. Well, except for Adora. She looks like she has been awake for the past week straight and also hit by a skiff.

“Because this time, I am 98.4% certain that this power surge is only going to get worse and worse. Etheria is using this magic for something BIG!” She is practically jumping from excitement, spreading her arms out beside her. Entrapta doesn’t have a runestone, so she is unaffected by the magic surge, making her extra loud in comparison to the currently gloomy princesses. The Rebellion share glances with each other, worry in all of their faces. “Alright, so what do we do about this? Is there a way to track where the magic is going?” Adora asks, from her chair. 

She has nearly sunk down completely in said chair, she is the only one still wearing her pyjamas, and her hair is a sad excuse for a ponytail. It almost looks like a half-up half-down hairstyle. Her pyjamas are still a grey tank top and slightly darker shorts, exactly like the Horde's. She did remember to put on shoes, thankfully. Although, it's socks and sandals. In conclusion, Adora looks like a mess at the moment. The only thing keeping her upright is Catra interlocking their arms together. 

Entrapta seems very happy to answer her question.“There is! All I need is a few minutes to recalibrate the hologram machine in front of us and then it’ll be good to go!” She puts on her metal mask and crawls under the table to work on the hologram mainframe. 

The others sigh and continue to sit quietly, waiting for Entrapta to finish. Adora brings her head forward to rest on the table. She is so close to falling asleep when her brother shakes her shoulder to wake her up. She turns to glare at him, but seeing the worry on his face dissipates her anger. Adam looks to the rest of the group and asks “Is there anything that we can do in the meantime to help with the fatigue?” The group thinks, and suddenly Frosta responds “Why doesn’t Adora turn into Shera?” They all look towards the blonde, who has continued to fall asleep on the table. Catra nudges her, and Adora shoots up, yelling “I’m awake!” before actually answering the question. “I can’t turn into Shera during the power surges.” To show this, she attempts to summon her sword, but all that comes out is a few sparks of yellow magic.

Adam is about to mention that he can still turn to He-Man, but before he can add anything, Entrapta comes up from under the table. “It’s done! Let’s try it out.” She turns on the hologram, and sure enough, a map of Etheria pops up, but instead of there being alerts of attacks, there is a huge ball of light in the middle of the Whispering Woods. 

“That’s where the magic’s going…” Micah whispers in awe. Everyone else is staring at it in awe, too. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go see what we’re working with!” Glimmer shouts, jumping up from her seat carefully. They all begin heading out to see the anomaly that’s been causing their fatigue. 

Before they make it go the door, Micah remembers something. “Wait!” he yells, “What about the kids?” They all pause. Somehow, while being so caught up in the situation, they forgot about their own children. They all began to feel very guilty. To make up for this, they decided to bring them along to go see the magic surge in action. 

When the kids heard they were coming, they actually were really, really excited to go on their first mission. It didn’t show too much on their faces, because of their increasing sleepiness. There were a few yawns going around. Finn barely smiled as they sat on the ground. It hurt the Rebellion members to see their kids look so weak and spiritless, but they decided that a trip to the Whispering Woods would lighten their spirits.

What’s the worst that could happen? It’s JUST a random magic surge. They’ve dealt with magic surges before!  
\----  
After a painfully long walk to the coordinates that Entrapta gave, they made it to the destination. 

Surprisingly, the princesses walked all the way without any needed assistance. Sure, they were tired, but they had dealt with worse before. Since their children aren’t directly connected to their runestones, they weren’t that tired either. 

The only two exceptions were Adora and Finn. Adora had attempted to walk by herself in the beginning, refusing any help from anyone. She even tried to help Finn in her weakened state. Eventually, after she collapsed onto a tree, Catra forced Adora to lean onto her for support. Finn was doing just slightly better than Adora. They were currently leaning on their Uncle Bow. They would’ve gone to their best friend, Flora, but she was also slightly weakened and they didn’t want to bother her. Bow wasn’t a princess, anyway.

When they arrived, there was so much magic in their air, everyone could feel it. Even non-princesses like Bow and Catra. Entrapta began to tap on her tracking pad and ramble on about magic, but suddenly the wind started to pick up. A lot. 

A large purple vortex of magic began forming in front of their very eyes. Everyone immediately recognized this as a portal. They all attempted to run away or were pulled away in Adora and Finns cases. 

Despite their attempts to run, they were all pulled into the vortex. Every single one of them. The portal closed after they had left. The only evidence that anyone was ever there at all was Entrapta's now cracked tracker pad lying on the forest floor alone. It was like nobody was ever there at all.


	2. alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MAN i planned for this to be a max of 2000 words and here I am posting a 5k chapter so oh well. ANYways i hope u guys enjoy, I'm not sure how good I am at writing angst but there is a bit of that in here, along with my attempts at being funny hehe.
> 
> hope u guys enjoy!!

——  
Catra

The Fright Zone has been running perfectly today. All the cadets are either in their bunks asleep or in Salineas, all the Force Captains are on duty, and Hordak isn’t angry with her. For once.

Nightmares plagued Catra’s mind every time she attempted to sleep, so she decided to go for a walk to make sure everything was in check.

Hordak was currently in Salineas, destroying villages or whatever the fuck he does there. At least he isn’t wallowing in despair about Entrapta anymore. 

Catra walked past the door of Hordak’s sanctum. She knew it was empty, otherwise she wouldn’t have gone at all. She peeked into the door just to make sure, even though she was almost certain she would find an empty, lifeless lab filled with unfinished projects.

What Catra didn’t expect to see was a portal forming in front of her very eyes.

She pinched herself in the arm to assure herself she was dreaming, and that she’d wake up in her quarters safe and sound eventually. Well, as safe and sound as you can get as the Horde second in Command. 

The portal finished forming and out came fifteen people and one giant cat. They all came tumbling out as if they were thrown into the portal.

She was currently standing in the corner of the lab, or the Sanctum as Hordak would call it. She noticed a pair of cat ears and dark brown hair that looked strikingly similar to her hair. Maybe it was just a coincidence?

Although she wanted to hope that she wasn’t staring at herself, the second the person stood up she knew it was her. 

She was staring at herself. 

Could this day get ANY weirder?

Actually, it could get weirder. Future-Catra stood up, along with all the other people. She soon realized that the other fourteen people were all members of the Rebellion, and one purple cat with a blue mane. Future-Catra then bent over to pick up the two people still on the floor.

One was… Adora? The other one was a young magicat that she didn’t recognize.

The first thing she noticed was how different this Adora was. Her hair was down and much longer, she was wearing a grey tank top, shorts, socks, and sandals. She looked like she was thrown off a cliff after not sleeping for a week straight. Catra still thought she looked beautiful. ‘No,’ Catra reprimanded herself in her head,’don’t think about that. She’s your enemy.’ 

The defeaningly awkward silence stretched out until Future-Catra slowly waved to her. “Hi…” she said as nicely as she could, given the situation. 

“What… the fuck.” Catra accidentally said out loud. Future-Catra actually chuckled at that, a low and deep sound. Nothing like her laugh now. Not that she hears it often anymore.

The others just stared in shock at Catra. Future-Catra seemed to be the only one who snapped out of her initial surprise. “Okay, so I know this looks really weird, but I promise we’re not here to hurt you. We just need to go to Brightmoon.” Future-Catra explained calmly, as if Catra would just let them go that easily. She almost laughed at the absurdity. Almost.

“And why would I do that? You’re with princesses. Whoever you are, you’ve obviously betrayed the Horde and now I’m going to imprison all of you.” Catra explained smugly. Future-Catra smiled sadly at Catra. Before she could say anything, Future-Adora finally stood up from where she was leaning on Future-Catra’s side. 

“Look, Catra. I’m just going to be honest with you right now, since we really don’t have time for this. We’re from the Future. Over 20 years to be exact. We came here by accident. So, if you could just let us go that would be just wonderful.” Adora said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Now, Catra actually laughed at how insane this was. “You expect me to believe that you’re all from the Future?! How stupid do you think I am?” She was really confused and starting to get tired of this.

She heard Princess Sparkles, or whatever her name is, mutter “Pretty stupid, if you ask me.” Catra tried to lunge at her, but was blocked by a large pincer. Wait, a pincer? Catra looked up to see Scorpia, the person she has been pushing away for months and is currently sleeping in her bunk. Or at least, Catra THOUGHT she was sleeping in her bunk. Scorpia looked older, more mature, than the last time Catra saw her.

Maybe they really were from the Future…

Catra looked through the group of princesses staring at her. They did all look much older than the last time she saw them all. Even the young snow princess. They were now all past their initial shock and looked expectantly at her. Catra’s eyes widened “You really are from the Future…”

Future-Adora slowly walked towards her and put a hand on her shoulder. Just like when they were younger, the motion calmed her. Adora noticed, and smiled gently. “I know this is a lot to take in, but we really need to get out of here. Can you please help us?” Catra looked into her eyes to see if there was any malice in them. There wasn’t. Only...love? 

Catra began to tear up at the sight of Adora, her childhood best friend, looking at her like that again. She didn’t realize how much she missed it. 

Future-Adora smiled sadly at her, the same way that Future-Catra did. She pulled Catra in for a hug, and Catra clung onto her. She was sure this was some elaborate illusion set up by Hordak, but she didn’t care anymore.

Catra must have hugged her too hard, because Future-Adora wheezed in pain and fell backwards. Future-Catra ran up and caught her before she could reach the floor, and pulled her over to where the rest of the group was still standing, unmoving. 

“Wh-What’s wrong with her? Why are y-you here?” Catra stammered out. Future-Catra sighed and briefly explained the situation “The magic on Etheria in our time started to malfunction today. The levels of magic on Etheria went down by a lot, and this makes all the princesses… sick. Adora gets affected the worst because she depends on her magic the most to live. The longer they go without magic, the worse their symptoms will get.”

Catra thought about what Future-Catra told her. Depending on magic? Symptoms getting worse? Would Adora… die? Catra shivered at the thought.

Despite this meaning she would be betraying the Horde, she decided to help the Rebellion. ‘Just this once’ Catra assured herself ‘I`ll help them one time, that’s it.’ 

Catra nodded. “Come on. Everyone is either on duty in Salineas or asleep right now, so the halls are mostly clear.” She saw the water princess shudder at the mention of her kingdom. In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea to mention that.

Catra went over to the door to make sure the hall was clear. It obviously was. The Fright Zone should definitely have more guards, because this was a bit ridiculous. No guards at all? In front of Hordak’s sanctum? Whatever, it worked in her favour anyway. 

The group followed hesitantly. They made it to the end of the hallway before she spotted a group of guards. Catra sighed to herself. She turned back to the group “There’s no way to get past them.” She was expecting at least some disappointment, or anything negative, really. Instead, all of them gave each other knowing looks, whispering to one another. Catra picked up the words “Melog” and “invisible”. 

Future-Catra laughed “I think we’ve got that handled. Melog!” She called over the purple cat, who meowed in response. Suddenly, everyone in the group turned invisible. Future-Catra smirked. 

Catra decided not to comment on this, and instead to keep moving. 

They made it to the skiff bay before she realized the issue. “There’s too many of us. We won’t all fit on one skiff, and we can’t take any more. The max is fourteen and we have fifteen and a giant cat.” Future-Catra casually responded “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll ride on Melog. Adam, come with me.” 

Well, that settles that.

They all get onto the skiff, with Adora and the mystery magicat needing extra assistance from the others. Catra and a blond man get onto Melog. They all begin to head out into the Whispering Woods, aiming for Brightmoon Palace. 

\----  
They had been driving for half an hour. Some guy with a moustache named Sea Hawk was piloting the skiff. Catra decided to make small talk with the Future Rebellion. What’s the worst that could happen, anyway?

“So… what’s the Future like?” Catra internally facepalms at her question. Perfuma, the flower princess responds. “Oh! The Future is great! The Rebellion won the war, and now we’re just trying to bring peace to the universe!” Just as she finished, Mermista elbowed her in the ribs. Catra isn’t really surprised the Horde lost. At least she was still alive in the Future. “You can’t tell someone from the past about the Future! It could mess everything up!” she whisper-yelled. 

“Actually, after we go back to our own time, everyone from this time will be reverted back to what they were doing before the portal opened and they will have completely forgotten ALL about this!” Entrapta assured her friend with a smile. Okay, so she’s still annoying, even twenty years older. 

“Great! Okay so, ever since the war ended, we’ve been trying to turn the Fright Zone into the Scorpion Zone. So in our time, Scorpia is the ruler of her own kingdom.” Perfuma continues. Scorpia blushes at this. 

Catra’s eyebrows go up at that. A whole kingdom, huh?

Just as Perfuma was about to explain more, they all heard a weak cough come from the blonde curled up on the floor. “Heyy Adoraa...How are you feeling?” Scorpia asked. Adora looked up at the white-haired woman and grinned stupidly. “I’m feeling just peachy, guys. Just… so… great..” She paused in between the last words to yawn. She fell back asleep again.

Glimmer sighed “She’s getting worse. Even during the worst surges, she never got this bad. Should we tell Catra?” The others didn’t seem keen on telling her older self that Adora was getting worse. Besides, what could she possibly do to help?

Catra decided to voice her concerns. “What would she even do? It’s not like she’s a doctor or something, right?” Bow was the one who responded this time. “She wouldn’t do anything, but it’s important that Catra knows what state her wife is in.” 

Catra’s eyes widened to saucers and she chokes on her own spit. Did he just say wife? I marry Adora in the Future? Adora doesn’t hate me for the rest of my life?!

Bow can see the gears churning in Catra’s head, and gives her a small apologetic smile. 

Just as Catra’s about to say something, anything, she hears Future-Catra yell something in the distance. She turns and looks ahead to see what’s happening and sees it. 

Brightmoon Palace. They’re here.

\----  
Adora

Adora was currently in her room, looking over plans for their attack on a Horde outpost near Elberon. There was something off about the layout that she couldn’t quite place, and it bothered her enough that she took the plan with her after the war meeting to think about it more. Everything has to be perfect. 

Suddenly, Glimmer and Bow came running into her room. “Adora! You have to look outside, NOW!” Glimmer yelled. Adora got up and went to her balcony to see what was happening.

There was a Horde skiff pulling up into Brightmoon Palace filled with... The princesses? She could also make out two people riding a large cat just in front of them. Is that… Catra and Bow? But she just saw Catra and Bow on the skiff!

All three of them ran down to the main entrance to see what was happening. When they got to the front gates, they saw the group all dismount from their modes of transportation, skiff or cat.

The first thing Adora noticed was that there were two Catras. One of them looked like the Catra that Adora had seen all her life, and the other one looked so much more… mature. It was all so confusing. The Future-Glimmer stepped off the skiff and began to wobble a bit. Future-Bow went over and helped her up. They smiled at each other. 

Future-Glimmer walked over to where Adora, Glimmer and Bow were standing, and focused on Glimmer. “Hello! I'm you, from twenty years in the Future. I know that’s really hard to believe, but you have to trust us.” 

Glimmer tried speaking, but all that came out was a jumble of incoherent words. Future-Glimmer sighed and said, quieter so nobody else would hear, “Look, I can prove that I’m you, okay?” She leaned into Glimmer’s ear and whispered something. Immediately, Glimmer’s eyes widened and she began blushing profusely. “So do you believe us, now?” Future-Catra added from where she was standing a few feet behind Future-Glimmer. Adora was still hesitant, but Glimmer instantly nodded, still blushing. 

The rest of the group came to stand beside Future-Glimmer, facing the three confused teenagers. “Okay, now that we’ve got that covered, Glimmer here needs to go to the Moonstone right now, so if we could just speed up this little process, please…” Future-Mermista said from beside Future-Sea Hawk. Okay, they’re definitely real. 

“W-Why?” Adora blurted out. She doesn’t really know why she said it, but it IS a valid question right now. She sees Future-her leaning heavily on Future-Catra, and wonders if they’re friends in their time. Also, why does Future-her look so sick?

“Because the magic in our time is messed up right now and Glimmer, including all the princesses, are all sick. So can you PLEASE take us to the Moonstone now?” Future-Catra pleads. She’s annoyed, and it shows in her voice. 

The three agree and take them up. Once they arrive at the Moonstone, Future-Glimmer lays down and, almost immediately, she begins glowing. A lot more than Glimmer usually does when she used to recharge. 

She stands up, almost jumping with every step, and immediately goes and hugs Future-Bow very hard. He is obviously struggling in the hug, which is odd since Glimmer, no matter how old, is always smaller than Bow. It must be the extra power. 

“Okay! Now can you fully explain what you people are doing here?!” Glimmer yells, growing impatient. 

The group moves to the war room to discuss. Bow calls the rest of the princesses from their time, too. Thankfully, they’re all in the castle right now for a different meeting that should have finished a few minutes ago. 

\----  
Catra

They had all settled into the war room, now. The present-time Rebellion members, and Catra, were settled in chairs at the table. Even Catra got a chair, to her own surprise. She was disgusted that Shadow Weaver was also in the room, sitting a few chairs away from her, but chose not to say anything. There were bigger problems at hand.

The Future Rebellion members stood huddled together in front of the watchful eye of their younger counterparts. Well, most of them stood.

“Okay. So, what I want to know is why are you here and how did you open a portal to now?” Glimmer asks from the Queen’s chair. They all look expectantly to Adora, who is sitting on the floor with a young magicat sleeping with their head in her lap. She looks like a mess, but somehow is able to explain everything pretty smoothly. “Well, in our time, we found a loophole to unleash the Heart of Etheria without destroying the universe.” 

The princesses seem surprised at this, especially Shadow Weaver. Catra doesn’t know what they’re talking about and keeps a neutral face. 

Future-Adora continues, “This had some… consequences on our magic. Sometimes, the entire planet will go through a magic surge. It makes all the princesses with runestones sick for a few days, and then we’re fine. This time though, the surge was really bad, and continues to get worse, so we went to investigate in the Whispering Woods and accidentally got pulled into a portal forming. Entrapta explained to us on the ride here that, in order to get our magic back, we have to go to each of our individual runestones and do it manually. If we don’t, we’ll keep getting more and more tired until we either die or fall into a coma for the rest of our lives. After we fix our magic, we can get home easily. All we have to do is use our magic to open a portal in the Whispering Woods, and then everything will go back to how it was before all this happened.”

Wow. That was a lot to take in. Everyone at the table is trying to comprehend everything that just came out of Future-Adora’s mouth. 

After a few minutes, Adora speaks. “Okay… so let’s split up and go to each princess’s runestone.” Since nobody knows what to say, they kind of just nod. 

\----  
After a few minutes, everyone is back to normal. They make up groups for everyone. Catra probably should have listened to the groups, but it’s not like she was in any of them. 

Future-Adora decided not to go into a group, since she doesn’t have a runestone. Since Future-Adora didn’t go, Future-Catra didn’t go. That also meant that the almost- unconscious magicat, Melog, the blond man, and Catra were staying behind, too. 

The rest of the Rebellion members left to go retrieve their power. Catra couldn’t care less about them, not while she was watching Adora die before her eyes. 

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic. It still made Catra sad to see her old best friend in pain. She always thought she would enjoy seeing Adora suffer, but now that it was actually happening, she didn’t enjoy it at all.

Future-Catra pulled Future-Adora into a seat. The others followed, and it ended up being the 6 of them all sitting at the war table. Except for the magicat, who was lying on the floor near the door.

Future-Catra, Future-Adora, Catra, Adora, the blond man, and Shadow Weaver. 7 if you include Melog, who was napping in a sunny patch.

“Adora,” Shadow Weaver drawled,” it’s so wonderful to see you. I can tell that you are very powerful, even in your weakened state now.” Future-Adora attempted to glare at the woman, but it didn’t really work. She chose to ignore Shadow Weaver, which only angered her. “Why are you angry with me? I prepared you for greatness, and now you have it. You’re welcome, by the way.” This seemed to make Future-Adora angry and uncomfortable at the same time.

You can tell Future-Catra really tried to stay calm, but once she looked over to Future-Adora, and saw the emotions on her face, it was over. She stood up angrily, and slammed her hands on the table. “You didn’t prepare her for anything! She’s an amazing person despite what you put her through!” she yelled.

Catra was shocked if she was being honest, and one glance at Adora told her she was feeling the same way. They continued to watch the argument go down. If only Catra had some popcorn right now.

Shadow Weaver sighed theatrically, as if this were a game to her, “Oh, Catra. You’ll always be that insolent child I found in the Fright Zone. No wonder Adora left.” Anger began bubbling in Catra, and she was about to argue, but Future-Adora beat her to the punch.

“Get out,” she said calmly, staring at the woman who raised her in the eyes with pure rage. Shadow Weaver chuckled at this, “Catra is a bad influence on you, Adora. You were always so obedient and strong in the Horde. Look at you, now.” Future-Adora stood up and walked over to Shadow Weaver’s chair.

‘She’s not going to do anything,’ Catra thought, ‘she never actually fights back.’

She was wrong. Future-Adora grabbed Shadow Weaver by the top of her robe and pulled her up above the ground. She began to glow, and it was obvious that even this feat of strength was difficult for her. “You are a horrible person, and you don’t deserve to ever speak to me or Catra ever again. The best thing that you EVER did for Catra and I was die.” She throws the black-haired woman to the floor and wobbles back to her seat, with some assistance from Future-Catra.

Shadow Weaver realizes the implications of what Future-Adora said to her, and storms out of the room. It is eerily quiet in the room, save for Future-Adora’s heavy breathing. Wait, what?

She looks over and, sure enough, Future-Adora looks like she just ran a marathon. She’s breathing heavily, and her face is red. Future-Catra is at her side immediately and puts the back of one clawed hand on Future-Adora’s forehead. “She has a really bad fever.” She explains, anxious. She tries to lighten the mood, “Don’t worry! The princesses will be back soon and they’ll have a solution.”

Catra is beginning to get worried, though. What if she doesn’t get better?

\----  
Adora

Now that all of the adrenaline of the moment has died out, Adora is really curious about the relationship that Future her and Catra have. Are they friends? Are they more tha- she stops herself before she can finish that thought.

She decides to just go for it. “So… you guys are friends now?” Both Future-Catra and Catra chuckle, like they know something she doesn’t. “Adora, we’re a lot more than ‘friends’ now.” She does air-quotes around the word friend. What is that supposed to mean? Before Adora can inspect further, Future-Catra elaborates “We’re married. She’s my wife.” 

Adora has the exact same reaction as Catra did. Big eyes and choking on her spit. She coughs a few times before yelling “WHAT?!” This makes Future-Catra double over laughing. Even Future-Adora, who isn’t exactly in high spirits right now, laughs with her. 

Its obvious Future-Catra is enjoying messing with them. Maybe it’s because it makes Future-Adora feel better, but who knows? She doesn’t.

To add to the flame, Future-Catra adds “Oh, and see that little magicat over there?” she points to the sleeping child on the floor, “That’s our kid!” Catra, apparently, did not know this information, and is shocked, to say the least.

Shocked is a huge understatement of what Catra and Adora feel right now.

They both jump up, hands on the table, and simultaneously yell “WHAT??!” That makes their Future counterparts burst out in laughter so hard that they are both practically on the floor. Their very loud peals of laughter actually wake up the teenager on the floor. They sit up with squinting eyes, looking towards their mothers. “Moms?” they ask in a weak voice. Their Future selves stop laughing and Future-Catra walks over to them and kneels down.

“What is it, kitten?” Future-Catra asks in a sweet voice. She’s never heard her voice sound like that before. Future-Adora attempts to stand up, but quickly realizes that it’s not going to work. She falls forward, but the blond man catches her. 

Future-Catra turns back to look at her wife, then turns to look at her child. It’s obvious she is trying to decide who to help. The blond man decides for her “You take care of Finn, I’ll take Adora.” Future-Catra doesn’t seem super happy about this decision, but inevitably agrees when Finn begins coughing. 

Adora is about to ask who the blond man is, before Catra steals the words straight from her mouth. “So, who are you?” Snark is practically oozing from her voice. The man turns and smiles at her. Adora recognizes that smile from somewhere. “Well, uh, my name is Adam. I’m Adora’s...twin brother.” 

What?

Catra is definitely shocked by this, but she pales in comparison to the reaction that Adora has. She just sits there with her jaw hanging open, like a fish. Catra regains her composure quickly. “I thought Adora was an orphan.” She murmurs loud enough for everyone to hear. Adam looks down, in sadness or shame Adora doesn’t know. “Yeah… Adora was born on a different planet. Eternia. Her family has been there the entire time.” She already knew she wasn’t born on Etheria, but to think that this WHOLE time her family has been somewhere in the universe, waiting for her. She could have had a family.

Adora begins to cry. It’s not a heavy sob, but the tears quietly roll down her splotchy red face. Her eyes are still wide. Catra looks over to her and does something she hasn’t done in years. She holds Adora’s hand. Adora whips her head to look over Catra. She has a weak, apologetic smile on her face. Adora decides to take the chance and hugs Catra. 

To her own surprise, Catra hugs her back with the same force. It’s clear she needed this, too. “I’m sorry,” she whispers so that only Adora can hear her.

Other-Adora and Adam watch solemnly on their side of the table. 

\-----  
Finn

They woke up on the floor of the Brightmoon war room. Finn assumed that the magic surge had been dealt with and that they would get to hang out with their best friend, Flora, now.

That was definitely not the case.

As they sat up, they looked over at the table to see their mom crying while hugging their mama. Wait, wasn’t Catra just sitting beside them? They look over and, sure enough, their mothers are also sitting beside them. “We accidentally went back in time” Uncle Adam whispers beside them. Oh, that makes sense. Kind of. 

Finn clears their throat. “Um...hello!” They say, equal parts cheery and awkward. The past counterparts look up at them. They look so much… younger than Finn is used to. Their skin is clear of any creases, and they look smaller and more innocent. Kind of like Finn. They are really seeing how similar they are to Catra.

“Oh, hi. Sorry about all of this.” Past-Adora says quietly. Finn is about to respond when the other princesses come back. They notice that there are doubles of every Rebellion member. Two Glimmers, two Bows, two Mermistas, and so on and so forth. Weird.

They all stand up and walk over to talk to the newly arrived group. Finn sees all their friends again. They’re all glowing a bit and look happier than ever. ‘I guess they found a way to fix their magic’ Finn thinks. 

After the adrenaline of the moment dies down, they are left to discuss what to do about Adora and Finn, and how to get back to their time. Finn noticed Past-Catra in the corner of the room, not talking to anyone. They decide to go say hi. 

Big mistake.

“Hi! I’m Finn.” They introduce themself, holding their hand out. Past-Catra snarls at them and slaps their hand away. “I know that. What do you want?” She says with as much venom as she can muster at the moment. Finn is surprised at the lashing out, and a little hurt. They hold their hand in the other. They’re so used to their mom being a supportive, loving person in their life that they don’t know what to do when she isn’t. 

Past-Catra notices their sadness, and chuckles to herself, “What? You can’t handle someone not babying you?” She pushes past them, hitting her shoulder on theirs on purpose. Finn, who is currently very weakened, falls to the floor. They will themself to not cry, so they wouldn’t prove Past-Catra right.

Catra, their real mother, notices their pain and walks over to them. They finished discussing a few minutes ago, anyway. They were no closer to a plan. Adora follows, despite being on the verge of unconsciousness. They both kneel in front of Finn. Catra begins, “I know past-me can be… mean.” She sighs “I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with them. Don’t take it too personally, I used to lash out for no reason all the time. It has nothing to do with you.” She puts a clawed hand softly on their knee to show her support.

Finn nods in understanding. Adora turns and sits down next to them, tired from kneeling for so long. Finn immediately leans their head on their mother, who wraps an arm weakly around her kitten. They both fall asleep in seconds. Before they both fall into a deep sleep, they hear Catra shuffle back to the table.

\----  
Future-Catra

Okay. Catra can admit that she is now starting to get nervous about her wife and child. They had been asleep for the past 2 hours and hadn’t moved at all. 

To someone who didn’t know either of them, this may seem like regular behaviour for two sleeping people. But Catra knew better. Adora had always been a sleep-fighter, even 20 years after the war had ended. She may always be a sleep-fighter. Finn has also inherited their mother's aggressive sleeping habits. The fact that they weren’t moving was a telltale sign that they were much worse than Catra had previously thought. 

She walks over to the group of Rebellion members, past and present, and asks them if they have any idea where Adora gets her magic from. They all ponder this, before shaking their heads. Just as Catra is about to give up and go sit down with her family, she hears someone say “I know where Adora can get her magic from.”

They all turn to the source and, of course, it’s Shadow Weaver. “Adora is connected to Etheria’s magic in a different way than the princesses. She doesn’t need a runestone. So, Adora’s magic is from the direct source. Where is the most direct form of magic in Etheria?” 

Everyone begrudgingly pauses to think about this. None of the future Rebellion members trust anything Shadow Weaver says, to the relief of both Catras. Although, they never actually considered that Adora may not get her power from a runestone like the rest of them. “Oh! The Whispering Woods!” Past-Glimmer says, looking expectantly at Shadow Weaver. 

Ugh.

“Well, we have a plan, now. Let’s go get this over with” Catra mutters, and stands up to leave. Everyone follows suit. Catra turns to Adora to tell her to wake up. When she looks over, she sees Finn, awake, trying to shake their mom awake. They’re crying. Adora isn’t waking up.

Everyone stops moving to look at Adora and Finn. “Mom! Please wake up!” Finn sobs into Adora’s shoulder. She can see the past-Rebellion members shocked at Finn calling Adora ‘mom’. She can see the moment it clicks in their heads, and their mouths fall open in an ‘o’ shape. Even Shadow Weaver looks shocked. 

Catra walks over and picks Adora up. Adam scurries over and attempts to take Adora out of her hands. This angers Catra for some reason “No. I’ll take her,” she says calmly, despite her anger. Normally, Adam would have put up more of a fight, but he didn’t seem too keen to argue right now. He knelt down and helped Finn up, leaning most if not all of their weight on his side. 

They began to head out.

\----  
Catra

If she were being completely honest with herself right now, Catra was scared.

She was scared at the idea of Adora dying. She was scared of watching Adora die. She was even scared for Finn, despite how she handled their last conversation.

They made it to the deepest part of the Whispering Woods. Adora was extremely pale and sweating in Catra’s arms despite being unconscious. She was muttering indecipherable nonsense to Future-Catra, who looked absolutely terrified. Finn was now fully in Adam’s arms after collapsing in the middle of the walk. 

Catra and Adam looked over to each other, and set Adora and Finn down on the ground and stepped back, expecting them to glow for a few seconds and be good as new again. That's what happened to everyone else.

But Adora and Finn aren't like anyone else, are they?

When nothing happened, they all thought the same thing, but didn’t want to admit it. Future-Catra fell to her knees in front of Adora’s body and began to sob heavily, not caring that everyone saw her. Everyone had tears in their eyes. Even Shadow Weaver, who has never cared about Catra or her wellbeing, looked almost heartbroken for the person she raised. Nobody ever thought Adora would actually die. 

Future-Glimmer and Bow, also crying heavily, went over to Future-Catra’s side and put one of their hands on each of her shoulders. She cried harder. Catra was sure she heard her future counterpart whimper “I’m alone.” 

Tears began to flow down her face, too.

Just as the future Best Friend Squad began to sob more, they noticed a low glow of light coming from the two unconscious people in front of them. Future-Catra sniffled and looked down at her wife and kid. As they all looked around the patch of land they were in, they realized they could see the magic going into the two. Little circles of bright yellow were flowing from the grass, trees, plants, and flowers were going into Adora and Finn. 

Soon, the two blonds, themselves, began to glow heavily. Future-Catra, Glimmer and Bow scooted back, as to not ruin the process. This wasn’t how any of the other princesses got their magic back. Everyone, especially Shadow Weaver, was intrigued by the power radiating into the two. 

Eventually, the magic stopped flowing, but Adora and Finn were still glowing. Future-Catra began panicking again, but slowly, the two began to open their eyes and sit up.

They didn’t die. They were alive.

Catra wasn’t alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is just gonna be talking and then the future gang going home. that's it. but there is quite a bit of catra jealousy in the next one I think so be ready for that :)
> 
> pls tell me if I messed up any of the povs or pronouns or anything, you would be surprised at how difficult it is to write about time travel. i gave myself a headache writing this.
> 
> okay so I really hope u guys enjoy! If u could, comment what u think or give a kudo!
> 
> k bye!


	3. i know. it's okay. goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm,,, maybe I'm projecting onto past catra,,, maybe I'm not. I guess we'll NEVER know! 
> 
> anywayss I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! It's my favourite one :)
> 
> If you enjoyed, give a kudo or a comment! I would really appreciate either and I love reading ur comments. 
> 
> Ok bye!

Adora

Everyone was watching the two glowing people on the ground, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

The two began to open their eyes and sit up. The Future-Best Friend Squad watched them cautiously. “Hey Gu-” Future-Adora started, but was quickly interrupted by Future-Catra tackling her into a hug, who was smiling with tears still coming out of her closed eyes. Future-Bow and Glimmer followed shortly after, and they soon became a heap of tears and laughter. At one point, Future-Catra also pulled Finn into the hug, making sure to include them in the love.

Adora looked over to Catra, who was also shocked by this display of affection. Catra rarely initiated hugs. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Adora was glad she had gotten to experience it, even if it was only when they were six and Catra had just scratched Adora in the face. 

Eventually, though, the hug ended, and the group stood up. They had all wiped their tears away, but it was still obvious they had been crying. “Uh… hey everyone. Let’s go back to the castle.” Future-Adora murmured, still dizzy from the sudden magic intake. They all began to head back. 

The Future-Rebellion led in the front, laughing and chatting like this was a regular occurrence. Everyone from the present walked behind them, still in shock. Adora was hanging further back from everyone else, deep in thought. 

So deep in thought, in fact, that she almost didn’t notice Catra looking over to her, obvious concern in her eyes. Almost.

As soon as Adora looked up at her, Catra whipped her head forward and walked faster. Adora sighed. 

This was going to take a while. 

\----  
Future-Glimmer

They were on the way back home. Well, their past home. It was all very confusing. Glimmer looked over to her husband, Bow, and her son, Angello. After watching her best friend and nibling come so close to death, she couldn’t help but appreciate her family and friends. 

Adora and Catra were talking to Finn, telling jokes and laughing to distract the kid from their first, and hopefully last, near-death experience. Finn was laughing along with them and looked back to normal now. Adora was practically glowing now. Actually, now that Glimmer took a closer look, Adora was glowing. 

While her friends and family were talking and catching up now that none of them were sick, Catra abruptly stopped in her tracks. Finn, who was holding onto Catra’s hand, was pulled to a stop, along with Adora, who was holding Finn’s other hand. The past-Rebellion stopped and looked at the group to see what was wrong. “Do you guys hear that?” Catra asked hesitantly. Before any of them could say no, they began to hear it, too. The 2 groups moved closer together.

Bots. This day couldn’t get ANY worse. 

Suddenly, Finn gasped “MOMS! Can we go fight the bots?” They held their hands out in a prayer motion in front of their moms. The two gave each other a look, and turned to Finn to say, at the same time “Absolutely not.” Finn seemed very disappointed with that answer, “But whyyy? I promise I’ll be safe!” The two moms stood their ground. “It’s too dangerous. I just got you back, I’m not risking your safety again.” Catra decided. 

Finn, who seemed to agree with their mom, nodded and decided to end the disagreement. Shadow Weaver, on the other hand, decided that now was the perfect time to interject, “Why not? You and Adora were fighting bots at their age. If they’re going to become any stronger, they must fight.” Glimmer’s blood boiled at Shadow Weaver’s statement. She couldn’t imagine what Catra must be feeling right now. Or Adora. 

The two ex-Horde soldiers turned to the woman who raised them. “We don’t want them to be strong. There isn’t a war to fight anymore. We just want them to be happy.” Catra spit. Adora continued to glare, then added “Don’t ever tell us what to do with our child. You don’t get to decide anything anymore” with just as much venom as Catra. That seemed to shut Shadow Weaver up. 

They were so busy talking, they didn’t notice that the handful of bots had now begun to circle them. 

The past-Rebellion seemed worried at the number of bots surrounding them. Glimmer glanced around at her friends, who had dealt with far worse, and smiled to herself. This was going to be fun. 

Past-Adora took out her sword, and yelled her signature “For the Honour of Grayskull!” 

When her transformation was complete, Glimmer couldn’t help but giggle a little. She heard Catra and Adora laugh from behind her, while Bow attempted to stifle a laugh. “What?” Past-Adora asked, self-conscious. “Sorry, we just forgot how ridiculous my old outfit was” Adora explained through giggles. Glimmer just HAD to say something. “Especially that skirt, oh man.” She muttered. This made Bow let out the laugh he was trying to hold in, and Adora began to laugh much louder. 

The past-Rebellion was surprised at their reactions. “What are you talking about? How does she look ridiculous? She’s 8-feet tall!” Past-Glimmer asked from beside a very red Past-Adora. 

“Aw, c'mon guys! I think she looks… cute. Well, compared to She-ra now, that is. ” Catra attempted to stop Past-Adora’s embarrassment, but that just made it worse. She put her head down while somehow blushing more, crossing her arms. “Wait. What do you mean by ‘She-ra now’? That future Adora doesn’t even have a sword,” Past-Bow asked. Honestly, all of the past Best Friend Squad looked absolutely adorable. Even Past-Catra, in an adorably murderous kind of way. 

\----  
Adora

She was still blushing when her future-self walked forward, chucking. She looked up at her in curiosity. Future-Adora held out her hand, and a sword appeared out of thin air. 

Wait, what? 

Adora was surprised, to say the least, but she became a whole lot more surprised when Future-Adora transformed without having to say “For the honour of Grayskull.” 

When the transformation was over, all of the Past-Rebellion stared at Future-Shera. She was… amazing, to put it simply. She was taller and much stronger, had her hair in a long ponytail and she now had pants on. They continued to gawk at her, including Catra, who was now blushing slightly with her mouth open in an ‘o’ shape. That made Adora smile. 

Future-Adora laughed at their surprise and began to fight the bots surrounding them. The rest began to fight, too. Well, except for the children, who were sitting on the floor beside a tree. To ensure that they wouldn’t leave, Future-Glimmer used magic to place a shield around them. Shadow Weaver’s eyes widened at that, but they were caught up in the battle before anything could be said.

While they were fighting the bots off, the Future-Rebellion doing so with ease, Adora noticed how in sync her future self and Future-Catra were. It was like they always knew what the other was thinking and could add to their attack. It reminded Adora of her time in the Horde with Catra. She felt her heart clench at the sight. 

To distract herself from the sickly feeling in her stomach, she fought off as many bots as she could.

Soon, all the bots were down and they continued their trek back to the palace. The closest thing Adora had to a home.

\----  
Catra

They made it to the palace and were now sitting in the same positions as before in the war room. Present people in chairs, Future people standing up. Catra was seated in between Adora and Scorpia. 

“Okay. Since we have some time to waste while we wait for Entrapta to finish the portal in the Crystal Castle, how about we answer any of your questions. You’re going to forget all of this after we leave anyway.” Future-Adora started. The rest of the future-Rebellion nodded and looked at the present-Rebellion (and Catra) expectantly. 

“Uh… Who’s that?” Bow asked while pointing to the blond man that Catra knew was Adora’s brother, Adam. She didn’t say anything, though. Adora looked down. Catra wanted to hold her hand but decided against it. The blond man looked up and smiled brightly, exactly like Adora. They really were identical. “I’m Adora’s twin brother!” 

The group all stopped and looked back and forth between the two siblings, wide-eyed. “I was under the impression that Adora’s parents were dead,” Shadow Weaver drawled. Catra’s nails dug into the chair arms at her voice. Man, she hated her so much. Adora glanced at her claws and placed one of her hands on Catra’s. She let go of her grip on the chair and held Adora’s hand. 

“Yeah, we’re alive! We’ve just been on a different planet this entire time. Boy, I am so glad we told your past self beforehand.” Adam whispered the last part to Future-Adora who smiled at him. 

\----  
They continued to go back and forth with questions. After a while, they had all moved to sit on the floor in the corner of the war room. Shadow Weaver left after a while, saying she had heard enough. Classic.

They didn’t really have any more personal questions regarding the group. The present-Rebellion had all talked to their future selves and children. “How did the war end?” Glimmer asked.

Everyone seemed to become uncomfortable at this question, especially Future-Catra and Adora. “It’s… a long story. Horde Prime, basically like Hordak but worse, showed up and tried to destroy Etheria. We activated the Heart of Etheria with a failsafe. It honestly went pretty well, the only person to die was, well, Shadow Weaver.” Future-Adora murmured. Future-Catra sighed at that, “I mean, it didn’t go that well. You almost died in my arms.” Future-Adora and Finn were currently leaning on either side of Future-Catra. She didn’t seem to mind, though. In fact, she had one arm wrapped around either of them.

Catra thought back to what her future counterpart said. Adora dies in her arms? Why? What happened? What stopped it?

Future-Catra chuckled, the motion shaking the two people leaning on her slightly, “Don’t think about that too much, kid. You’ll figure it out.” Catra’s shoulders relaxed at that.

The groups went silent, not having any more questions left. Until Catra thought of one. Her first question of the day.

“How do you guys not… fight all the time? I mean, it must be hard seeing all the people who you fought against during the war on the same side now.” 

The future princesses smiled sadly at that. As if they agreed, but didn’t want to. Catra began to panic that she said the wrong thing. Before she could take it back, Future-Perfuma spoke. “It was hard, at first. Once the war was over, we didn’t know what to talk about now that strategies weren’t an option. You, Entrapta, and Scorpia were so shy in the beginning, worried you’d say the wrong thing and be exiled.” Future-Catra chuckled at that. Future-Perfuma smiled at her, and continued, “So, to help us connect better, we started hanging out together once a week! At first, it went great, but after a while problems started to pop up…” She trailed off. 

Now Catra was getting curious. Maybe princess drama is actually interesting. “What kind of problems?” She asked, leaning forward while sitting crisscrossed, like a fascinated schoolgirl. She noticed Future-Adora smiling at her with that smile. It made her blush and sit back. Future-Adora turned her neck and whispered something to Future-Catra, who stifled a laugh and whispered something back. Catra’s blush deepened and she turned back to Future-Perfuma. 

“Well, we began banning people from doing certain things that made people upset. There’s probably at least 15 bans at this point!” She chuckled to herself, and Catra immediately wanted to know what the bans were. How could she not?

It wasn’t until then that she realized that Adora was sitting right beside her. She looked so interested in what the bans were, too. She realized then that their future counterparts were still whispering and giggling to each other. 

Instead of being embarrassed this time, Catra just felt… jealous. She was used to the feeling of jealousy. She had felt it all her life, but this was different. How could she be jealous of herself?

She wanted to be happy with Adora. To whisper and giggle with Adora. To hug her and tell her how much she loved her. She wouldn’t lie to herself about how much she desperately wanted those things, but she would lie to anyone who asked. She had to. She wasn’t weak, and she wouldn’t give anyone an excuse to call her that for wanting stupid things. She was stronger than that. 

Or was she?

She turned to Adora, who was still starry-eyed staring at Future-Perfuma. Adora then asked the question Catra wanted to, “What are all the bans?” Future-Perfuma laughed at that, but she wasn’t the one who answered. Future-Glimmer was.

“Well, we won’t say all of them because if we did we’d be here forever explaining them, so we’ll tell you two of them, okay?” The younger Rebellion nodded eagerly, to the enjoyment of the older Rebellion. “Alright. The first one that we made was that Catra and Adora are banned from participating in any Game Nights.” They all laughed at that, like there was some inside joke that the rest of them didn’t know. “I still think that ban should be lifted,” Future-Catra puffed from her position on the floor. Future-Glimmer was quick to reply, “You almost blew up half the palace one time!” Future-Catra's comeback was "That was entirely Adora's fault!" Not a very good one

Future-Adora laughed and picked her head up to kiss Future-Catra on the cheek, “They’re just jealous of how good we are.” Future-Catra still seemed grumpy, but smiled at her wife. 

Catra felt a sinking feeling in her chest. Why were they being so open and loving? Didn’t they know how weak they looked? Despite knowing that they were showing weakness, Catra couldn’t help but want what they had. One look at Adora proved that she did, too.

Catra almost chuckled at how dumb she was acting. She didn’t want their weakness. She wants- What did she want? She turned to look at Adora again. She wanted Ad-

Catra shook her head and turned back to the Future-Rebellion to distract herself. She looked to Future-Glimmer expectantly to hear the second ban. She noticed that everyone was blushing a little. “Why don’t I handle this one.” Adam chuckled. “The second ban is that Glimmer is banned from teleporting into people’s bedrooms without knocking.” They all laughed awkwardly, Future-Catra adding some explanation, “There were a lot of… incidents. That’s actually one of the reasons Adora and I moved out of the palace.” She says the last part matter-of-factly. The rest of the older princesses nodded, grimacing. Apparently, they had all been affected by these 'incidents'.

Catra looked around the rest of the younger rebellion, confused. They were just as clueless as her. Suddenly, it dawned on her. Her eyes widened. 

Oh.

OH!

She turned to Adora and saw she was blushing a bright red. Catra could feel her face burn up, too. She turned forward and looked down, pretending to look nonchalant, despite her blush giving her away. The future princess’ children looked confused before they all realized and looked thoroughly traumatized. “UGH! GROSS, MOMS! I DON’T WANNA KNOW THAT!” Finn groaned in disgust while still leaning on their mother’s shoulder. Everyone began to laugh, even Catra, although it was a quiet chuckle at best. “Okay well if I’m so gross, then why are you still sleeping on me right now, kitten?” Future-Catra asked teasingly, but still as soft as a feather.

Shadow Weaver had never sounded like that when Catra was a kid. 

Finn mumbled “cause you’re comfy, that’s why” at that. Future-Catra hummed in response. Future-Adora, who also looked to be almost asleep, murmured “yeah, Catra, you’re the comfiest kitty in all of Etheria.” She held one of her arms out as if that was the best accomplishment one could achieve. It was obvious she was loopy and that she should definitely take a nap soon. Right before Future-Adora could close her eyes again, Future-Catra lifted her head up by her chin and gave her a quick kiss. Future-Adora shuffled closer to her wife, smiling goofily while almost on top of her, and closed her eyes, right before whispering “g’ night, Catra. I love you.”

Luckily, nobody else heard that except for both Catras, with their heightened hearing. Catra bristled at that. Adora didn’t love her. She couldn’t. If she loved her, she wouldn’t have left. Adora must have been lying, to trick Catra into joining the Rebellion. She had to be. Catra looked back up at the couple but saw nothing but love in them. Future-Catra was rubbing her hand up and down Future-Adora’s arm, while she looked at a sleeping Finn with a smile on her face.

Catra began to cry at the sight of her future. The rest of the group was practically half asleep at this point. It had been hours of them just sitting here, waiting for Entrapta. Adora had her knees up and was leaning on the back of a chair, sleeping. They didn’t notice the tears streaming down Catra’s face.

It wasn’t a heavy sob, or it didn’t start out that way. She pulled her knees up, mirroring Adora, and put her face on her knees.

She couldn’t imagine having a life like the one her future self had, as ironic as that sounds. It didn’t seem possible. This entire time, she was sure that she would die during the war before she got a happy ending. And if she did live, she always thought that she would spend the rest of her days as the ruler of the Horde, alone, and even that wasn’t a very happy ending. 

Catra couldn’t imagine a life where she was happy and had a family, even though it was sitting right in front of her. It seemed too impossible for someone like her. 

\----  
Future-Catra

She looked up from where she was watching Finn to see her past self curled in a ball sobbing. It looked like she didn’t even know she was crying. She probably didn’t, given that Catra never would’ve cried in the open like this at the time if she knew what was happening. 

Catra stood up, adjusting Adora and Finn so that they were leaning on each other instead of her. Finn began to purr while leaning on Adora. Catra smiled at that. 

She turned to her past-self, and gently placed a hand on her knee, Past-Catra looked up. “Come with me” she held her hand out for her. Catra pulled her up on her feet and led her to a balcony facing the Whispering Woods. The smog from the Fright Zone was just barely visible over the trees. 

“We’re going to leave any minute now, and you’re going to forget that all of this ever happened,” Catra told her. Tears began to come out of her younger self’s mismatched eyes again. “I don’t want to forget this. H-How will I know that my future is good if I forget all of this?” Past-Catra looked up at her, desperation in her glistening eyes. The sight broke Catra’s heart.

“You won’t, but that means that everything will be how it’s supposed to be. You’ll get your happy ending eventually, even if you don’t know it. You just have to keep going for now. I promise it’ll be worth it.” Catra tried reasoning with her, but she knew it was no use. 

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Past-Catra whispered, staring at Catra. “I don’t know if I can wait that long. I can’t,” Her voice broke at the last sentence. Catra pulled her into a hug, cradling her head in a clawed hand. 

She felt her younger self begin to shake and cry harder into her shoulder, scrawny arms wrapping tightly around her. A single tear rolled down Catra’s face. She knew she needed this, needed someone to tell her that everything will be alright, even if she was going to forget all of this soon. Catra desperately prayed to whatever deity there was on Etheria that, despite it all, her younger self would remember this moment. Would remember that she’ll be happy one day. 

Catra pulled back and smiled at Past-Catra. “Everything will be alright. I’m living proof of that, okay? You’re so close. Don’t give up yet.” She placed a hand on her younger self’s face. It was a move that Shadow Weaver had done frequently while she manipulated her and Adora, but Catra was determined to turn it into an act of love and compassion instead of an act of hatred and manipulation. She frequently did this to Finn, to show her love and support. Something Shadow Weaver never showed her. This was the last way she would ever rebel against the woman who raised her. 

Past-Catra seemed to be able to notice that the motion was an attempt to show love because she smiled the best smile you can after crying for half an hour and nodded. Catra wiped the tears, both dried and new, off her face. 

Just then, both Entraptas ran onto the balcony and yelled “The portal’s ready!” simultaneously, before running back together. The two Catras looked at each other and smiled genuine smiles. They began to walk back when they noticed Shadow Weaver standing near the balcony. She had seen the entire conversation. In any other situation, Catra might have been angry, but all she could feel was a mix of disgust and pity for the masked woman. 

“Goodbye, Catra.” She held out a hand. 

“Goodbye, Shadow Weaver.” She shook her hand and walked away. Forever.

\----  
The two arrived outside, where the Entraptas had set up the new portal. The current Rebellion was standing beside the portal, while the younger Rebellion stood a few feet away, not wanting to be pulled through. The only people Catra could see were Adora and Finn, though.

Adora had an arm around the teenager. Melog, who had stayed very quiet throughout the day, was standing beside Adora, brushing their head on her side in a show of affection. Adora saw Melog and looked up to her wife. When she saw Past-Catra standing beside her, looking a little better, she smiled graciously. 

“Catra! C’mon! Don’t want to get pulled in, too, Wildcat!” Past-Scorpia yelled from her group. Catra heard Scorpia laugh at her past self’s use of her nickname. Catra gave her past counterpart one last hug goodbye, albeit softer than before. “You can do this. I know you can. I love you, and so does Adora,” Catra whispered in Past-Catra’s ear. She pulled back, blushing, and nodded. Past-Catra walked over to Scorpia, and Catra walked over to her family. Finn gave her a hug when she got there. Catra ruffled their hair and looked back at the Rebellion of the past. 

“It was nice to see you guys! Goodbye, now!” Adora yelled to them. They all began to wave as Entrapta turned on the portal. It wasn’t nearly as strong as before. They all walked in one by one. 

Catra was the last to go in. She waved to Past-Catra, giving her an apologetic smile that read ‘I have to do this. I’m sorry.’

Past-Catra understood and smiled back. A forgiving smile that read ‘I know. It’s okay. Goodbye.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a scary amount of ideas for fics so I might do some more. I promised myself I would never write fanfic again,,, but here I am! I forgot how much I enjoy writing.
> 
> you could comment, give a kudo, whatever you want! I would really appreciate either of them!! 
> 
> hope u guys have a great week :)


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